Car safety seats for children are commercially available in a many configurations corresponding to differences in the age, weight, and size of the child being transported. Parents can choose a car seat that is not only the correct size, but also suits their tastes, budget, and life style. As children grow in size and maturity level, they need different kinds of car seats. For example, a child may initially use a rearwardly facing infant car seat, then graduate to a forward facing toddler seat with an integrated harness, and finally to a belt positioning booster seat utilizing the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt system before being able to safely use the vehicle's seat belts alone.
There are many car seats on the market that can be used in multiple configurations. For instance, a forward facing car seat with an integral harness appropriate for a 20-40 pound child might accommodate a child weighing 30-100 pounds as a belt positioning booster seat with the removal of the harness and utilizing the vehicle's lap and shoulder belts. This is convenient for the care giver because it means fewer seats to purchase. Some parents choose to buy a belt positioning booster seat for their older child. Such a booster seat may be configured with a high back, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,143, granted to Davis Amirault on Jan. 27, 2004, or can have no back at all. Older children who don't want to be seen sitting in a “baby seat” like this option and parents don't have to manage a big bulky car seat.
Currently available car seats typically have a monolithic shell, i.e. the back and seat cannot be used separately. Some car seats are designed to have a no back base option, but are configured as a separate seat fastened under the monolithic seat and back, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,999, issued on Jul. 5, 1998, to James Kain. The problem with this configuration is the redundancy of seats; one as part of the monolithic shell, and one as a seat only.
Several commercially available car seats offer a recline mechanism that allows the seat to recline relative to a base member on which the seat member is supported. Typically, such recline mechanisms are difficult to operate physically and are not intuitive as to how the recline mechanism is operated. The ability to recline is important for comfort for the child being transported in the car seat. Accordingly, a conveniently operable recline mechanism for a car seat would be a desirable feature to be incorporated into the structure of the car seat.
Many commercially available car seats currently route the shoulder belts directly through the shoulder slots provided in the seat back. Typically, car seats will provide shoulder slots at several different heights to accommodate the range of different size children using the product. It is also typical that the shoulder harness can be conveniently loosened and tightened by either releasing or pulling a center strap connected to the shoulder strap and protruding out the front of the seat base for easy access. A simple cam type locking device is use to hold the center strap in the desired position. In order to accommodate a large range of children, the length of adjustment of the center strap has to be long enough to drawn the harness tight when in the lowest shoulder slot positions but also allow enough slack to fit the larger children when the harness is in the highest shoulder slot position. Many times the connection plate which attaches the shoulder belts to the center strap must travel in a range from just below the lowest shoulder slots down and around the junction of the seat back and seat bottom. This repositioning of the connection plate may cause extra friction as the connection plate travels around this junction making it more difficult for the user to tighten or loosen the harness.
These monolithic toddler car seats available on the market today with built in harnesses are configured with the seat and back rigidly and permanently attached. When shipped, this car seat configuration dictates that the packing carton forms a rectangular box shape around the “L” shaped car seat. As a result, a large volume of empty space remains in the carton, taking up shipping space, which is a very inefficient use of the shipping carton.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,967, issued on Dec. 8, 1998, to Michael Kane, et al, discloses a car seat for restraining a child in a vehicle having a unitary shell formed in an upper back portion and a lower seat portion connected to an integral hinge. The upper and lower portions are configured to form a lockable mortise and tenon joint therebetween. The booster seat further includes indicia for indicating height limitations of a child sitting in the seat. U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,968, granted to David Lovie on Dec. 8, 1998, teaches a booster seat that includes a spring-loaded detent that can be engaged by the cam members of backrest support member to hold the backrest in an orientation. When the safety seat is not in use, or when it is desired to use the booster cushion without the backrest, the backrest and its support member can be stowed within the booster cushion.
Examples of recline mechanisms for children's car seats can be found in European Patent Application No. EP0301281, published on Feb. 1, 1989; in U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,478, granted on May 5, 1998, to Michael Lumley, et al; in U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,393, issued to Paul Meeker, et al on Mar. 11, 1997; in U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,761, issued on Jan. 26, 1993, to Paul Meeker; in U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,456, granted to Kenzou Kassai on Dec. 30, 1986; in U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,358, granted to James Kain on Apr. 29, 2003; and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,099, issued to James Kain on Aug. 6, 2002.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,074, granted on Sep. 23, 2003, to Ronald Asbach, et al, the car seat is provided with a vertically movable head rest through which the harness straps are mounted so that the height of the harness straps will automatically be moved vertically with the corresponding positioning of the head rest.
It would be desirable to provide a child's car seat that could be configured in a variety of positions to accommodate the growth of a child without requiring the purchase of other car seats or booster seats that provide a separate size and age appropriate operation. It would also be desirable for such a car seat to provide a conveniently and intuitively operable recline mechanism to enhance the safety and comfort of the child in at least one of the configurations of the car seat. It would also be desirable for such a car seat to provide a harness system that can be re-positioned to accommodate the growth of the child without compromising the operation of the harness tightening mechanism, specifically the connection plate interconnecting the double harness straps and the harness tightening strap.